Issue One December 2014
Talia Dalton
- in her own words
Peace song winners in Japan
ON THE ROAD WITH THE JAM BUS WERO BREAKING GROUND
A word from Mike Play It Strange started in late 2003 with a mission to have New Zealand citizens think about the worth of our own music tradition mirrored in song. A mission that focused on bringing original songs by school students into the light. There have always been songs written by young New Zealanders. I have been lucky enough to hear a few over the years. Neil Finn’s “Late In Rome”. Dave Dobbyn and Ian Morris’ “Quite Frankly”. Phil Judd’s “Time For A Change”. All written when they were teenagers. But what about the many that never saw the light of day? Every New Zealander hears a recorded song every day. They are an integral and rewarding aspect of life in modern society. And what are they? Well, they have three components. 1. The song is written 2. The song is performed 3. The song is recorded And there you have it. A recording that can be made available to virtually every living human being on planet Earth. Three core elements that bring with them a necessary craft of excellence such that people who hear them will want to hear
them again. What we still call - a hit record. And for the great songs and recordings - to have those tracks heard far and wide. In New Zealand secondary schools, these activities of the imagination and technological expertise are encouraged in very small numbers. School principals still focus on academic and sporting excellence as a measure of their school. Winning the Play It Strange songwriting competition is probably not mentioned as a purpose or target at many school assemblies. And yet - as I said - every student standing in an assembly hall listens to recorded songs every day. They have their favourites. They have songs that inspire them. Songs that help them resolve issues. That encourage them and distill much of what seems to be a confusing and wayward social inversion net that they live in. Play It Strange believes that it is imperative for an Achievement Standard in Songwriting to be written and made available for all NZ secondary school students. We have a history of songs that have sparked this nation. And it’s actually been happening for decades. The time has come for the
adults of NZ to realise that songwriting is a worthy, creative pursuit. To realize that the recording of original songs with great performances and inventive, vivid arrangements is a rewarding activity. And it also important for the older generations to realize that songwriting is a creative process that is very very difficult to do well. The fact remains - the vast majority of New Zealanders have never written a song, let alone tried to. Why not? Young New Zealanders will flock to an Achievement Standard in Songwriting because it is of their generation. It demands imagination, focus, analysis, teamsmanship and sheer hard work. And the recording process carried out by those who have achieved a technical expertise: together those forces – songwriting, performing and recording – will bring them all together and recordings will come to the fore and be available for the world to hear. This all has to start on a wide, national basis in 2015.
Mike Chunn - CEO Play It Strange Trust
Emma Cooper Williams,
IN JAPAN
The Peace Song Competition came into being in 2008. Since 2013 we have had two categories – a National Winner (excluding Auckland) and an Auckland Region winner. And over the last two years our winners have been given the opportunity to visit Hiroshima for a number of weeks, experience Japanese life with wonderful families, and play their songs in the Peace Park. This was made possible by Meishi Sonobe, President of AIC, forming a bridge between AIC and AIC Japan.
Auckland Region Winner“To say that this was the trip of a lifetime would significantly understate what a surreal experience my five weeks in Japan were. The most memorable part of my trip was during my time at Auckland International College in Japan in class of three Japanese students my age. I was given the chance to explain the lyrics and meaning of one of my songs. We then attempted to write a song as a class which showed me the strength that teamwork creates. In Hiroshima we visited the Peace Memorial Park and I was able to play my song ‘Put Our Swords Down’ there. This was a moment for me that was very surreal, as I could see the A-Bomb Dome which is a building in ruins from world war two. It was a real awakening to how devastating war is. I believe that obstacles create opportunities, and the obstacles faced by people in Japan in the 1940’s created an opportunity for people like myself to see how it was built back up and became a symbol of peace. The generosity of all the people we met was outstanding; it was like home to me. I will never forget this experience, and I learnt so much and have been given a greater appreciation for music, and the powerful effect it can have to bring people together. Peace.”
Jess Adams, National Winner (excluding Auckland) -
“In the first few days, we met the Minister of Education and Science, played our songs for the NZ embassy, and met the CEO of AICJ in Kyoto! It was all very special meeting those important people and having our first glimpse of Japan. We then arrived in Hiroshima and met Mr Cooper and other teachers at AICJ, as well as all the dormitory girls. The very next day we started school at AICJ, already feeling a part of the school with our uniforms and all the warm welcomes. For the next 4 and a half weeks, Emma and I attended AICJ, joining classes that were either our level, or helping the English teachers in younger kids classes. The whole thing was a blast. We stayed at the dormitory during the week and went to host families on the weekend. I loved spending time with and getting to know the dormitory girls, as well as meeting new people on the weekends. The host families I stayed at were so kind and generous and showed me different things around Hiroshima. We played our peace songs a few times including at the school festival and the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. Both those times were very special. I enjoyed getting involved with AICJ like helping the kids get ready for the school festival and being a part of that incredible event. I also loved learning about the Japanese culture and getting to know the people I met. After the 5 weeks, Emma and I said goodbye and left Tokyo, after an exciting visit to Disneyland. I will never forget this trip, it was truly an eye-opening experience that I am so thankful to have had.”
Talia Dalton
- melting moments
This year the Play It Strange - Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition, New Zealand’s national secondary school songwriting competition, entered its eleventh year and had the youngest winner yet. Talia Dalton won with her song ‘Ice Cube in a Coffee’. Talia is only thirteen and is a year nine attending Otumoetai College. Strange Grooves spoke to Talia about her success, her music, her family and her experience recording her song at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. In her own words... “We are new to Tauranga but we lived in Kerikeri for two years, then we moved up here about six months ago. I moved to NZ when I was ten. I am a kiwi now! We came to NZ from Hawai’i, we lived there for three years. Before that we moved all around the States.
an album. My songwriting process varies. Sometimes I’m just sitting in my room and then something comes to me, like I’m thinking about something and I want to write something and then it all just happens and then there’s a whole song in about 15 mins. And then sometimes it’s a struggle and it takes me a couple of weeks to make a song. Usually I start with a subject, or a thought, and then I base the song around that. Sometimes I’ll come up with a melody first, likie a little teeny piece of a tune and then I’ll build off of that and think of words that kind of go with the melody.”
been teaching me some of his new songs. My parents style is kind of Folk-Pop. They’re planning on making another album.
Ice Cube in a Coffee - “I wrote that one quite a bit ago. It’s about how things just happen. If you think of the lyrics it’s supposed to be sad. In the begin-
I like listening to jazz, pop, lots of different kinds of music. Some artists I like are John Mayer, Zee Avi, Norah Jones, Etta James, and Adele and Sam Smith - new artists. I think I base alot of my music around Zee Avi cos it’s sort of the style that I do, and then a lot of other music has helped me a lot with writing songs.
“I’ve been singing my whole life” I was born in Kentucky, then we lived in Tenessee, New York, Washington, Chicago... I think thats it. My dad can work from anywhere as he is a website designer, so we like to see different places to find the right place. NZ feels like home now. We live in Matua, Tauranga and I go to Otumoetai College. I’ve been singing my whole life because my Mom and my Dad are musicians, so they kept music in the family since we were little. I starting learning the guitar four years ago. The first song I wrote was when I was eight or nine. Sometimes I try and write songs but sometimes I have to wait for something to come to me - it’s off and on. I would probably have enough songs for
We have a small studio upstairs with all my Dad’s equipment. He’s trying to teach me some recording - it’s quite complicated. I haven’t really started writing on the computer - I usually write a song and then try and record it. Icecube’ was the first song we actually really recorded.
“Roundhead was awesome”
I’m getting lessons next term from Mr Jeffaries (Antony Jeffaries from PleasePlease) through school - he wants to guide my songwritnng a little bit. L-R Jill, Talia, and Jeffrey Dalton
ing it’s about things decaying and going away - it’s talking about the process of things, how things just happen. The first song I wrote was on an ukulele, and I have one or two other songs on the ukulele also. I have one and a half songs on the piano, and the rest are all written on guitar. My sister is really musical and loves singing and my parents put an album out when I was one year old, so I’ve always been around music. My Dad’s
is proudly supported by
Roundhead was awesome - a great first experience and the technicians were really cool. It was better than I expected. I thought it was going to be really simple, just recording the guitar and vocals - but we ended up adding drums and piano which was really cool. They recorded tambourine and it ended up sounding way better than I had expected. You can hear my song on my website taliadalton. com.” Photography - Brenna Gotje (studio) and Brydie Thompson (family portrait and front cover) Interview - Jamie Stone
On The Road with the Jam Bus to, the common thread that weaves itself through the Jam Bus experience, is the way that all the Jam Bus kids approach their recording. To stand up in front of a group of your friends and sing by yourself is something that would be incredibly daunting to most adults. It is for students too, but there’s a difference. The thing that has struck me as both the most poignant and most common thread amongst those 15,000 students is that they are willing to give it a go, and aren’t afraid of the results.
When the Jam Bus team arrives .at a school for the first time, in our little white van, the students are sometimes perplexed. ‘It thought it was supposed to be a bus?’ You can see their imaginings of a Magic School Bus that, like Harry Potter tents, can fit whole schools of students amidst whirls and bangs and a flurry of equipment that will churn out CDs then and there, like something out of Willy Wonka’s factory. What actually happens can sometimes be more magical. But rather than the ‘Bus’ being the magic, instead we record it. It’s already there, audible in the over 15,000 students who have recorded, by themselves or in groups of up to 350 at once with the Jam Bus. Those who have played ukuleles,
“that’s the magic.”
trumpets, marimbas, violins, guitars, drums, bass, triangle, tap danced, made bird noises, giggled, cried, laughed, and most commonly, sang into our microphones. The programme has been to over 75% of all Auckland Primary and Intermediate schools, and we’ve recorded hundreds of songs in more genres and styles that I would have imagined could possibly come from a Primary school classroom. The creativity is enormous and vibrant. So when reflecting on a year with such variety, the thing I keep coming back
Writing the Wave Early this year Play It Strange was asked by long time supporter Richard Jeffrey, CEO of Vodafone Events Centre, to run a competition for the Auckland region schools, to celebrate the creation of the Wero White Water Stadium development in Manukau. Like the Peace Song Competition and this year’s The Calling Songwriting Competition, students enjoy writing a song around suggested themes – but that they also allow the creative freedom to explore what such themes mean to them. The songs attracted entries from Primary, Intermediate and Secondary Schools from around the region as the theme of “accept the challenge” was explored and dozens of songs were created, recorded and submitted with a lyric sheet. The winners of the Primary and Intermediate School division, Doreen Auga (10 years old) and Grace Wijohn (11 years) from Rongomai School, Otara found the song “Never Give Up” just came to them – that “people try something then just give up”. “The song is for kids to never give up and never turn back on their dreams” said Doreen. Their teacher is Lui Fauolo who
Where does that feeling go? Where does that enjoyment of creativity and its innateness in all of us disappear to for most, as we get older? So many of the comments we get from teachers and parents is their wish that they’d had something similar when they were young. With the Jam Bus, we hope to encourage the notion that creative expression is worthwhile and that music and it’s sociable performance doesn’t need to be for only those who might go on to be career musicians, but for everyone and anyone. To give an avenue for Primary and Intermediate school students to celebrate their joy and confidence in music in as they grow into young adults thats the majic. By Barney Chunn - Jam Bus Producer Photography - Jamie Stone Wero earth turning ceremony with Prime Minister John Key present. “ I saw the songwriting competition advertised and decided to give it a “try”.. it just started to flow and that’s a really rare and special moment in songwriting, so you have to seize the opportunity while you can”, said Donaldson. “Wero in the context of accepting a challenge is the
L-R Fuamoli Tavae Magele Sa’olele, John Key, Doreen Auga, Lui Fauolo, Grace Wijohn
was “blown away” when he heard the song. The school had a visit from the Jam Bus mobile recording studio as their prize where they also performed to some of their peers and staff from Vodafone Events Centre and Play It Strange Trust. The girls sang with their friend Fuamoli Tavae Magele Sa’olele and teacher Lui on guitar - heads held high and voices strong. James Donaldson from Mt Albert Grammar School won the Secondary division with his song ‘Try’. He and his band had a great experience recording the “poppy” song at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios – to go on the 2014 Play It Strange CD. Both songs were performed live at the
L-R James Donaldson, John Key, Mackensie Clayton, Nathan Rhodes-Hasler
project name for New Zealand’s first water park for recreational rafting and competitive kayaking”, said Richard Jeffrey. “The talent and lyrics received from all the schools that took part in the Song writing competition demonstrated the relevance to our youth of accepting the many challenges of life and the joy of overcoming them and then taking on more.” The competition will now be run anually. By Debbie Little Photography - Anais Chaine
Strange Grooves is published by the Play It Strange Trust. PO Box 137194, Parnell, Auckland. website: playitstrange.org.nz email: info@playitstrange.org.nz © Play It Strange Trust 2014